Former Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh was spotted at a meeting for journalists in New York City. / Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Pugh, the former City Council president who vanished from Detroit in June without any public explanation, attended a New York Association of Black Journalists meeting on Monday, the organization’s president confirmed today.

“He just showed up like anybody else, like any other journalist,” said Michael Feeney, the group’s president and a reporter for the New York Daily News.

Feeney revealed Pugh’s whereabouts on Monday when he snapped a picture of Pugh, a former television and radio broadcaster, and posted it to his Instagram account.

The picture is the latest clue that suggests Pugh has taken up residence in New York since he suddenly stopped attending council meetings in June amid allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a teen he mentored. A criminal investigation into Pugh’s conduct was suspended in July at the request of the teen’s family. Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr stripped Pugh of his pay shortly after he stopped coming to work.

Pugh was absent at today’s Detroit City Council meeting.

Last month, a man told WDIV-TV (Channel 4) he saw Pugh sitting on a bench in Central Park. Pugh also reportedly had been spotted in Seattle in late June.

Feeney said in a telephone interview that he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding Pugh’s disappearance from Detroit when he snapped the photo at the meeting, which was held at the New York Times headquarters.

Feeney said he met Pugh while working in Detroit in 2006. He said he did not ask Pugh why he was attending the meeting.

“Maybe he was trying to get back in the mix,” he said. “Maybe he was trying to get a job. I don’t know.”

Feeney e-mailed a statement after the interview that said:

“Charles Pugh, along with over 150 other journalists and media professionals, attended the New York Association of Black Journalists general body meeting last night (Sept. 9). Our meetings are open to all journalists, including those visiting from other cities. I personally know Charles from working as a journalist in Detroit, however, I don’t have any insight into why he is in New York City or any of the recent media attention he is receiving in Detroit.”